Firearms: Reading and Responding Essay

I'm kinda having trouble writing this essay. I have drawn many blanks. Any help would be wonderful. Let me know if my intro, conclusion are alright. Please be as critical as you need to be. The assignment was to read and respond to an article. But it needs to be 3-5 pages long and I only have less than 2 pages. Not good. I know my citing needs work.

Many people keep firearms in their homes to protect themselves and their families from intruders. But is potential loss of life from accidental shootings out wade by the comforting thoughts of protecting your family? Meleanie Hain intentionally put herself and her three children in danger by keeping a loaded handgun accessible. Handguns need to be unloaded and locked, especially when the household contains children.

A Pennsylvania soccer mom, Meleanie Hain, was shot dead by her husband, Scott Hain, while chatting with a friend on her webcam. Her husband then went upstairs and shot himself with a shotgun while their three children were still in the home. Meleanie's handgun was found fully loaded in her backpack hanging on the back of the front door. Meleanie also made the news last year for carrying a loaded, holstered handgun to her five year old daughter's soccer game. Her permit for the gun was revoked but later reinstated ("Cops: Husband shot soccer mom as she chatted on webcam").

Meleanie took her loaded unconcealed handgun to her five year old daughters' soccer game. Exposing the fact she owned a gun to a soccer team full of children. This also put every child there at risk of danger. "As many as seventy five percent to eighty percent of first and second graders know where their parents' gun is kept." ("Firearms- Injury statistics and incidence rates"). Meleanie's daughter, being five at that time, probably knew where her mother kept the gun in the home.

"More than one-half of firearm owners keep their firearms loaded and ready for use some of the time." ("Firearms- Injury statistics and incidence rates"). In this case, when the police arrived at the Hain's home, they found a backpack with the loaded handgun hanging on the back of the front door in full access of her three children. Meleanie and her husband left there guns loaded and accessible at a moment's time. With children in a home this can pose a serous danger to them. "Some three year olds are strong enough to pull the trigger of many handguns." ("Firearms- Injury statistics and incidence rates").

Meleanie's five year old daughter could have grabbed a hold of the gun and have been strong enough to harm herself or some else. There handgun needed to be put into a safe and securely locked place. So that there children could not get easy access to the gun and accidentally shoot someone they love. "A gun kept in the home is forty-three times more likely to kill someone known to the family than to kill someone in self-defense." ("Firearms injury prevention").

If the Hain's felt the need for the guns was to protect their family then they could have gotten a security system instead of having the guns in the home. This would have eliminated the guns from the home; therefore, the deaths may have been prevented.

Meleanie put herself at risk by having a loaded handgun in the home. "A gun kept in the home triples the risk of homicide" ("Firearms injury prevention"). In this case a homicide/suicide. I believe this could have been prevented if Meleanie didn't have the gun in the home to begin with. The comforting thoughts of protecting my family do not out wade the loss of a loved one from an accidental shooting.

You could draw in other similar stories so that the comparison makes your points more vivid. It would also lengthen your response.

Also, more detail about the philosophy of owning handguns as opposed to not owning them would be good as well and give substance to the statistics.